March 2015

Posted on 07-Mar-15 13:17
We all have people who inspire us: teachers, actors, actresses, writers, directors, etc. I have my fair share of people whom I look up to, and I thought it would be nice to share some of my author influences. I encourage you all to make a list of individuals who have served as positive inspirations for you as well!Read More

Posted on 07-Mar-15 10:20
Maggie is just like any other high school kid, but she’s been homeschooled her entire life by her police officer father and her recently estranged mother. Her four brothers assure her that high school is easy, but when Maggie gets there she realizes how many different types of kids there are and how much she doesn’t seem to fit in with any crowd. She befriends a goth boy and his younger sister, but soon she finds herself caught up in a fight between her new friends and her brothers. Meanwhile, she is trying to solve a mystery of an eerie woman who keeps following her everywhere she goes.Read More

Posted on 06-Mar-15 10:06
“I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up.” (pg. 198) of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Have you ever felt a strong urge to say something but you can’t?
The following piece is my own re-enactment of the protagonist, Malinda’s thoughts. It is written in third person, and I am the narrator.
Sometimes it seemed that she was two different people, one being the carefree self before the incident. But things were different in high school, and it was no secret. She recalled the painful experiences of her freshman year…Read More

Posted on 04-Mar-15 11:02
Smile is the autobiographical graphic novel of Raina as a girl growing up in the early 1990’s. In elementary school, during a Girl Scouts meet, Raina trips and smashes in her front teeth resulting in dental work throughout junior high and high school. The book depicts her life as a teenager, from seeing The Little Mermaid come out in the movie theater to losing friends and many more interesting events that I won’t give away (you’ll have to read it to see for yourself). As time goes on, Raina begins to question her life, her so-called friends and her decisions.Read More

Posted on 03-Mar-15 16:00
If you’re in an English class right now, chances are you are currently reading a book, a play, or a poem and there is also a good chance that you aren’t enjoying it. I don’t blame you. Sometimes the joy of reading is lessened by the fact that you’re being forced into it. However, there are ways to get around it so that you can effectively read and understand whatever has been assigned. Today, I give you a list of what to do and what not to do when reading for class.Read More

Posted on 02-Mar-15 20:12
Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller is the first book in the Kiki Strike series, which follows a group of five outsider girls living in Manhattan and exploring its underground world.
The book starts off in one of Manhattan’s dirty, polluted areas, in a small apartment where an incredibly bored twelve-year-old girl named Ananka Fishbein lives. Read More